Sugandha Pathak, New Delhi, Dec 26, DHNS:
Filling the forms proves an obstacle to admitting their kids to top schools, forms are not in vernacular
Parents who want to admit their children to top private schools under the Right to Edution (RTE) face a hurdle right at the start: Admission forms in English that don't make sense to them.
“I want my child to study in a reputed school but the admission forms of most top schools are in English. The applications of some of the schools run into four to five pages and if all that is written in English, that is a worry. I will end up putting my child in a small school. Delhi Public School, Heritage, G.D Goenka etc have their forms in English,” said Abdul Sattar, a hawker who sells readymadeclothes.
Sattar has studied till standard 8 and can read and write in Hindi. He is trying to admit his four-year-old child to a nursery class in a top school for the next academic year. On paper, at least, the RTE law makes this possible, as it is mandatory for all schools to ensure that 25 per cent of the admissions are from the Economically Weaker Sectio,(EWS).
Sattar and his wife are trying to get someone who knows English to fill the forms.
But they worry that an error in the application might ruin the prospect of their child's admission. According to them, there are a few schools which have admission forms in Hindi, but they are mostly smaller schools.
An NGO, Social Jurist, working on education-related concerns, wrote recently to the Directorate of Education suggesting a Common Application Form in Hindi for admission under the freeship quota.
“The Common Admission Form are in English. Most of the parents belonging to EWS-Disadvantaged Group (DG) category do not read, write or understand English.
Therefore, to make the EWS admissions effective and purposeful, it is necessary that the DoE make available Hindi (Vernacular) version of of the Common Admission Form, for admission under EWS and DG in terms of the provisions of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act, 2009) on its website immediately,” said advocate Ashok Agarwal, advisor, Social Jurist.
Khagesh Jha, an advocate and a member of the organisation, said the issue was raised at a meeting on Monday with officials at the DoE. “They have not given us any substantial response to our concern. As per the nursery admission guidelines there is no rule on giving out forms in Hindi. Some schools in the city are doing it by themselves,” he said.
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